Mike Atherton: Pat Cummins’ chance to emulate iconic Steve Waugh Ashes moment

Steve Waugh said that the captain of Australia should be seen as a ‘benchmark of resilience’. The Oval, venue of the Ashes finale, hosted one of his finest moments in that regard, writes MIKE ATHERTON.

Australian Pat Cummins can lead his team to a first Ashes series win in England for 22 years in the series finale at The Oval. Picture: Oli Scarff /AFP

Splayed out on the turf, belly down, looking up to the dressing room and raising his bat tentatively as he did so, the photograph of Steve Waugh celebrating his century at the Oval in 2001 is the one of the most famous in Ashes history. This was not just any old century but one that came 19 days after he tore his calf badly at Trent Bridge, where his team had retained the urn.

Waugh was in hospital when the moment of victory arrived in the third Test in Nottingham, having scans that would reveal a 5cm longitudinal tear in one part of his calf and a 2cm tear in another. He was told that it would take between three and six months to heal. He informed Errol Alcott, the physio, that he wanted to play in the final Test and they worked day and night for that chance. He eventually played, he reckoned, about 70 per cent fit.

Waugh was an exceptional and tough cricketer, a man who claimed that the captain of Australia, whoever that is, should be seen as a “benchmark of resilience”. Nevertheless the story of his desperate recovery in 19 days, and the steps undertaken, is enough to show what an Ashes Test means. Australia were 3-1 up at that point and Waugh wanted to make it 4-1.

That was a “dead rubber” Test but this one is not. So while it is true that this match has lost some of its edge, washed away in the biblical Manchester rain, and has been denied the delicious possibilities that would have accompanied a winner-takes-all occasion, with the potential for England to become only the second team to come from 2-0 behind to win the Ashes, there is a lot riding on it. After all, 2-2 sounds a lot better for an English audience than a 3-1 defeat.

Iconic: Steve Waugh brings up his century at The Oval in the 2001 Ashes. Picture: Brett Costello

For Australia, that photograph has special resonance too, since it was taken on the occasion of their most recent series win in England. It seems so long ago now – that team included Shane Warne, Mark Waugh, Adam Gilchrist, and Jason Gillespie among others – which is a measure of how competitive the Ashes has been in England and how difficult it is to win here. Pat Cummins would dearly like to emulate Waugh and become the first captain since Andrew Strauss more than a decade ago to win an Ashes abroad.

Before this series, Steve Smith said a win in England was on his “bucket list” and he is one of a number of Australian players for whom this will be the last chance. David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Smith will almost certainly not tour here again and after missing their opportunity to seal victory four years ago – when they were also 2-1 up but then lost at the Oval – they will not want to fall short once more.

Smith has been quiet since Lord’s, but has a Don Bradman-esque average of 91 at the Oval, having scored two hundreds here. He is a notoriously bad sleeper during a Test series and the condensed nature of it, squeezed between windows for the IPL and the Hundred, will have taken its toll mentally on the batsmen and physically on the bowlers. There will be some tired minds and bodies this week.

It has been a patchy Ashes series for Steve Smith but he boasts an excellent record at The Oval. Picture: Stu Forster/Getty Images

That both teams are staggering to the finish line has been evident in the low-key practice sessions before this game, with Ben Stokes bowling off spin in the nets, Stuart Broad having done almost nothing, and Chris Woakes some gentle run-throughs only. It has been, Stokes admitted, a gruelling five weeks. Nevertheless, both teams were resisting too many changes, with England announcing the same XI from Manchester and Australia contemplating swapping Todd Murphy for Cameron Green.

James Anderson, who reiterated a desire to continue beyond this summer in his newspaper column this week, and who will be playing what will surely be his last Ashes Test, was given Stokes’s absolute backing. Anderson turns 41 on Sunday and has had a minimal impact upon this series – four wickets at 77 a piece – but was described by Stokes as the “greatest fast bowler” to have played the game: a one-eyed view no doubt, but one that reflects the loyalty Stokes has to his players.

Loyalty is a key tenet of Stokes’s captaincy and bringing back Broad and Anderson was the first move he made when he got the job. You could have got good odds then on both opening the bowling in the last Test of the Ashes, but Broad has made a convincing case for inclusion ever since. He is the leading wicket-taker in the series and has rarely bowled better. He, too, has given no indication that retirement is on his mind.

At some stage, a call on their future will be needed, one reason why some independence among the selection panel is important. In any case, it is almost certain that this bowling attack will never play together again: Moeen Ali is likely to slip back into Test retirement, Woakes will rarely play Test cricket abroad, and Wood will be wrapped in cotton wool for the biggest engagements only.

England captain Ben Stokes hits out during a nets session before the fifth and final Ashes Test. Picture: Gareth Copley/Getty Images

Wood was doing his best to raise spirits on the day before the game, playing out Barbie Girl and The Imperial March from the gym which is situated directly above where Stokes was giving his press conference. Stokes admitted that he had never felt as flat as he did when he left Old Trafford last week. “Shaking hands you could feel it from both teams. Emotionless,” he said. That is because it is the contest that counts more than anything for athletes. The Oval brings an end to a series in which these fundamental questions around sport have been raised more than in any series I can remember, splitting opinion between those who see sport as a glory game, with entertainment its primary purpose, and those who take a more practical, utilitarian view.

It doesn’t have to be one or the other and it seems to me to be entirely laudable that England are trying to weave a precious, if difficult, route that touches both. They have made some errors in this series and they will look back in time with regret at missed opportunities – the drops; the extras; the wild, unconstrained batting at times – but they have had a good go and have one more game to remind us, as they did at Old Trafford, of the best version of themselves.

Win here and Bazball and the bucket hats of the summer of 2023 will be remembered more fondly than after a defeat, but they will be remembered regardless. Why do we recollect that image and innings from Waugh all those years ago? It was not just that Australia won – Australia always won back then – but because there was a story of a cussed cricketer coming back from a serious injury attached to it. Characters and stories remain at the heart of sport and, under Stokes, England have helped to give us a good yarn worth retelling in due course. Attempting to win in style – what could be a more admirable objective than that?

– The Times